Interpersonal Relationship Investment Measure

A Interpersonal Relationship Investment Measure is a interpersonal relationship measure associated with overinvestment (in interpersonal relationships).

• Context:
  • Output: an Interpersonal Relationship Investment Value (which can include socio-tropy)
  • It can be studied in Social Psychology.
  • …
• Example(s):
  • Sociotropy Autonomy Scale (SAS).
  • …
• Counter-Example(s):
  • Self-Investment Measure.
• See: Personality Psychology, Social Psychology, Autonomy.

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References

2022

• (Wikipedia, 2022) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociotropy Retrieved:2022-11-19.
  • Sociotropy is a personality trait characterized by excessive investment in interpersonal relationships and usually studied in the field of social psychology.

    People with sociotropy tend to have a strong need for social acceptance, which causes them to be overly nurturant towards people who they do not have close relationships with. Sociotropy can be seen as the opposite of autonomy, because those with sociotropy are concerned with interpersonal relationships, whereas those with autonomy are more concerned with independence and do not care so much for others. Sociotropy has been correlated with feminine sex-role orientation in many research experiments.

    Sociotropy is notable in that it interacts with interpersonal stress or traumatic experience to influence subsequent depression.

2000

• (Bieling et al., 2000) ⇒ Peter J. Bieling, Aaron T. Beck, and Gregory K. Brown. (2000). “The Sociotropy–autonomy Scale: Structure and Implications.” Cognitive Therapy and Research 24, no. 6
  • ABSTRACT: The Sociotropy Autonomy Scale (SAS), especially the Autonomy Scale, has demonstrated inconsistent results concerning its relationship to depression and psychopathology. We hypothesized that these inconsistent findings may be related to the factor structure of the SAS. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the SAS were conducted in two separate samples of psychiatric outpatients (n = 1033, n = 1034). The results revealed a two-factor solution for sociotropy: Preference for Affiliation and Fear of Criticism and Rejection. The second factor, Fear of Criticism and Rejection, had a stronger association with psychopathology than the first factor. The results also indicated a two-factor solution for autonomy: Sensitivity to Others' Control and Independent Goal Attainment. Although the Sensitivity to Others' Control factor had a positive correlation with psychopathology, the Independent Goal Attainment factor had a negative correlation with psychopathology. We speculate that Independent Goal Attainment may be associated with resilience or hardiness and functions as a buffer against stress. Implications for revising the SAS as well as employing these factors in future studies are discussed.

1995

• (Coyne & Whiffen, 1995) ⇒ James C. Coyne, and Valerie E. Whiffen. (1995). “Issues in Personality As Diathesis for Depression: The Case of Sociotropy-dependency and Autonomy-self-criticism.” Psychological bulletin, 118(3).
  • ABSTRACT: A congruency between personality and life stress is assumed to pose a particular risk for depression. The authors review relevant research as a way of examining broader issues entailed in diathesis–stress models of depression. Topics include the identification of distinct personality modes and the differentiation of these modes from the phenomena of depression and the influence of the social context. Diathesis–stress models face formidable conceptual and methodological challenges. More complex models are needed to accommodate the dynamics of a person's life course, involvement in significant social contexts, and fluctuations in vulnerability to depression. Base rates of key phenomena favor development of models of depression recurrence in high-risk samples rather than its onset in the general population.

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